]o April, 1909.] Rep art of }N heat Improvement Committee. 239 



REPORT OF WHEAT IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE. 



F. E. Lee {Agriadtiiral Superintendent), Hon. Secretary. 



The necessities of the wheat growing industry are so obvious, and the 

 extension of the area under this crop of such paramount importance to the 

 State that the creation of a departmental Committee to investigate the asso- 

 ciated problems needs no justification. It has been realized for some time 

 that the co-operative experiments with farmers lea\'e a great deal to be 

 desired as far as scientific inquiry is concerned. The problem of improving 



APPLIANCES USED IN THE CROSS-FERTILIZING OF WHEAT. 

 I, Ear; z, Fovce]is; 3, Ear jiiotectcd fidiii foreign pollinnlion ; 4, Scissors. 



the State yield of wheat is capable of solution through several channels, viz., 

 improved methods of soil preparation and crop rotation, rational fertiliza- 

 tion, and by the introduction of wheat varieties especiallv fitted to meet the 

 soil and climatic conditions peculiar to northern Victoria. It is wdth this 

 last aspect that the work of the Committee will be most concerned for the 

 next four or five years. 



The Director of Agriculture (Dr. Cherry), the Vegetable Pathologist 

 (Mr. McAlpine), the Principal of the Dookie Agricultural College (Mr. 

 Pye), and the Agricultural Superintendent (Mr. Lee) con.stitute the Wheat 

 Improvement Committee, which is charged with the initiation and conduct 

 of a comprehensive scheme for the breeding of new wheats which shall 

 combine as far as possible the desirable charm-tt-ristirs of numexous varieties. 



